Martyr Theogenes, Bishop of Parium (+c. 320)

The Hieromartyr Theogenes was Bishop of the city of Parium in Asia Minor at the beginning of the fourth century. In the time of the Emperor Licinius (307–324) the tribune Zelicinthius demanded that he voluntarily renounce the rank of hierarch and enter military service; he refused firmly, for which he was cruelly beaten and thrown into prison. The saint refused to take food. Then he was sentenced to be drowned in the sea. Theogenes asked for time to pray. And as he prayed he shone with such light that the boatmen and some of the soldiers who had been charged with drowning the saint were converted to Christianity; the others still managed to throw him into the sea. This happened in 320. Later the Christians took the hierarch’s incorrupt body out of the water and buried it by the city wall. Afterwards a great many healings took place there.